At DirecTV’s first-ever TCA panel today, Nick Hamm, executive producer of DirecTV’s first original series Rogue— starring Thandie Newton as an undercover detective— described the creative advantages of a 10-episode series deal with DirecTV over the traditional pilot-to-series trajectory of network TV.

A straight-to-series deal, Hamm said, “gives creative power to the author…you are not testing them like you do with a pilot. You can creatively experiment like that. What pilots do is force you into situations of proving yourself in a very defined time schedule. That’s not always the right formula.”

Though producers were attracted to the chance to work without the limitations of the pilot process, Hamm assured TV journalists that the series, created by Matthew Parkhill and co-produced by Entertainment One, would not follow in the footsteps of The Killing and would conclude its “whodunit” story line in 10 episodes. “You will find out who did it,” he said. “But there will be a new serialized thriller story with a beginning middle and end over the [next] 10 hours.”

The 10 one-hour episodes have all been produced and will premiere on April 3.